


Maybe It's All Part of a Plan

by Larrykinklinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Brazil, Fluff, Love is in the Air, M/M, Non AU, Where We Are Tour, but it's kind of an au because this could never happen, oh so much fluff, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 12:03:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2067426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larrykinklinson/pseuds/Larrykinklinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry doesn't know what's going on but Louis most definitely wants the whole world to know that he gets to keep Harry, forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe It's All Part of a Plan

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this stuck in my head for ages and one night I finally decided to just write it out, so here it is. I aimed for not-too-cheesy. But it's a proposal so.
> 
> Thank you so much to Bianca for yelling at me to finish it up and to Tashie for being my beta and making sure it was perfect and to Laura for telling me to just post it already. Much love.

There’s something about the camera flashes during a show that gets to Harry. It’s crazy to think one beaming flash from a persons camera is lighting up an entire stadium. He thinks of the difference in flashes between getting papped, and actually capturing a moment. Being papped is scary; it’s when he has a camera being shoved in his face and profanities are being yelled around him because Harry isn’t - and sometimes can’t - stop.

But when he sees that someone just wants to relive and capture a moment they personally get to call their own, Harry gets it. When he looks up to the fans seated all around them, he sees those flashes, those moments and he doesn’t mind in the slightest.

There’s something different about tonight. He can feel it. 

 

They’re already halfway through the show when Louis takes his cue to introduce the band, because really, they just have to thank them. Harry is sure that the fans in front of him already know who they are - their drummer _does_ have more followers than The Wanted, but it’s still nice to give them a moment of their time to be rightfully acknowledged.  

Harry might also not mind as much because Louis’  introductions is one of Harry’s favorite parts of the night simply due to the fact that Louis always manages to make him laugh by getting them to do some really ridiculous task - that goes for the band and the boys.

They stopped taking performing so seriously ages ago; like Louis said, they were never one for matching outfits and choreographed dance moves. They go with the flow and work off the crowd’s energy which never ceases to amaze him. The fact that they’re on their third tour and a _stadium_ tour nonetheless—Harry still can’t wrap his mind around it.

Over time they grew to understand what their fans like. They know they like it when they switch up their outfits, and sure, eating on stage can be unprofessional to some, but Harry’s bananas are basically a must-have at every show and at this point, they are.

Harry looks back at his mates and notices that each of the boys have already taken Louis’  cue to move next to one of the band members, waiting for the usual - or unusual, depending on whatever Louis was going to make them do this time. 

Louis is standing up top with Jon at the piano, looking a little nervous, which is strange. He notices when Louis leans in to whisper in to Jon’s ear, catching the little bit of hesitance that flashes across his face, but Jon shakes his head and gives him a reassuring pat on the back. It’s chaste, but Harry decides not to over think it. 

Instead, Harry looks for Sandy, ready to fantastically fake play the bass with his microphone but when he catches that Niall beat him to the punch, he simply gives Harry a small shrug; which—okay, guess they were switching it up this time. 

Harry doesn’t even have to look over to Josh on the drums to know that Liam is already standing behind him with the drumsticks in his hands, laughing like a child who just got given a brand new toy he gets to play with. 

He finds Zayn, who is usually the one to sit out, already standing next to Guitarman Dan talking, as if they’re going over something; Louis normally tends to join Dan, so maybe it has to do with whatever it was Louis was talking to Jon about. He bets they’re going to make them dance again. Or something. 

Regardless, this arrangement leaves Harry to distract himself, meaning he’s going to throw more water at the fans, give ‘em a little wave and maybe twirl - definitely a twirl.

Tonight they’re in São Paulo, Brazil; their second to last show of the South American leg of the tour and Harry can’t believe it’s almost over. The air is hot and heavy around them and the atmosphere is just as powerful. Harry can’t help but think that the South American crowds are something else entirely—they’re incredible, dedicated and loud.

Harry stands forth at the front of their main stage. Over forty thousand people stand right at his feet; it’s breathtaking. There’s really no other word to describe it. Even after all these years and the more to come, he knows people will still be capturing the amazement beaming off his face. Capturing a moment.

He still can’t believe they’re performing a sold out show in a place like this, where the fans are singing back to them in a language that isn’t their first and everyone is so full of life and excitement. He feeds off the energy, bouncing around on stage, dancing like an absolute idiot but loving every second of it. The Take Me Home Tour doesn’t even compare since there aren’t as many restrictions because to be frank, they’re selling out fucking stadiums.

Maybe it’s finally hitting him that he gets to sing the songs he wrote to the boy he loves in front of the whole world and not only that but he gets to share it all with his best mates right by his side. 

He still remembers the weight being lifted off his shoulders when they were finally told that he didn’t have to completely avoid Louis on stage anymore (but to a certain degree; don’t go running into each others arms just yet) and they understood that. They have to slowly but surely lead back into it, naturally. And they are—they’re still getting comfortable with how much they can show off which includes their strut down the runway together during a few songs, some mild banter and only mild because Harry has to physically restrain himself from calling Louis ‘babe’. 

He notices he’s lost in a bit of a trance when he overhears Louis’  laugh booming through the stadium. Harry looks at him fondly as he makes Jon, instead of the usual Dan, describe why Brazil is the best show of the tour so far in fifty-seven words and yes, he’s counting and no, Harry is not staring. Except that he is. 

“Jon! You’re letting everyone down mate. That was a weak thirty-six words before you lost count. Here I am trying to switch things up a bit and you’re ruining it for everyone!”  Louis’  can pull a hard stare at his own mother if he had to and he wasn’t letting Jon get away with this, even if Harry could see the playful glint in his eyes. 

Louis’  been making Dan count his words since the Take Me Home Tour and how Dan hasn’t punched him in the face yet is beyond him, which is probably why he made Jon do it tonight again. Like Louis said—switch things up a bit.  

“Well, it’s no A for effort, but let’s hear it anyways. Everyone scream for the man behind the keys!”  Louis yelled into the microphone as the crowd cheered for Jon, punching a fist in the air while Jon carried a small tune to the beat of What Makes You Beautiful. Harry loves that the fans always have such a welcoming reaction to their band and that they know that the band was just as important as they are.

“Hey Louis,”  Jon is beckoning Louis over to him, “Why don’t you come help me out with a song? Let’s see if you can live up to my amazing piano skills.”  Jon gives him a challenging glare and on the big screen you can see Louis trying to play it off like a joke.

Behind Harry the crowd exploded into cheers, some even starting a “Lou-is”  chant in the back. Harry spares a glance at Louis, who’s refraining from looking at Jon in the eye. 

Harry’s sure he’s only playing it up a bit, and it’s convincing, but only a second goes by before he’s giving in with his hands in surrender and a small, private smile before Jon continues, “Alright then Tomlinson, let’s see it then. Play a pretty tune in front of all these people.”

Louis is already cracking his fingers and doing unnecessary leg stretches as if he’s preparing to fight to the death. Harry loves him. A lot.

“Jon, Jon, Jon,”  Louis is pushing past Jon to situate himself in front of the keyboard, “Who am I to deny the people what they want? Step aside mate, we’re doing this the Tommo way.”

If Harry thought the crowd was yelling before, they’re simply losing their minds now; the stadium amplified around him, everyone buzzing. Louis playing the piano is a treat, just like when he wears his glasses. It only happens every once in a while, but once it does, it’s like Christmas come early. 

Louis mindlessly strums over a few keys before picking up a rhythm and - wait a minute. Harry knows this song. The crowd knows this song. For the first time since Louis went to introduce the band, he looks up and makes direct eye contact with Harry. He sends him a wink and Harry’s pretty sure he’s not supposed to be doing that. 

Louis is playing They Don’t Know About Us. Louis is most certainly not supposed to be doing that.

Harry can feel his eyes go wide and the color drain from his face. Even over the screams of the crowd behind him he can hear himself breathing. He frantically looks over to the big screens on the side of the stage only to see they’re zooming in on him. Why the fuck are they doing that? 

Harry searches for the other boys, expecting to see the same confusion on their faces and maybe even get an explanation. When he meets Niall’s eyes, he gives Harry a smile and a nod, which—okay? By the time he turns to look at Liam, he’s starting the song with his first verse. 

 

_ “People say, we shouldn’t be together. Too young to know about forever. But I say they don’t know, what they’re talk-talk-talkin’ about.” _

 

Harry turns back around to the front stage, his eyes searching the front of the crowd frantically looking for Paul or Preston or anybody because this song isn’t on the set list and he sure as hell doesn’t remember anyone bringing it up that they were singing it today. 

A few moments later, after blatantly ignoring everyone in the crowd, he spots Paul giving him a simple thumbs up and a hand motion telling him to turn back around to look towards the stage.

Harry doesn’t even have time to register the fact that it’s his turn to sing the next verse and he’s completely panicking. He can’t hear anything in his in-ears except his heart pounding in his chest. He’s almost positive that he’s looking around like a lost puppy. 

As if Zayn can read his mind, he immediately jumps in and starts to sing Harry’s verse for him. Harry tries to tell Zayn he’s got it from here but Zayn merely shakes his head and points to look back at Louis behind him. 

 

_ “’Cause this love is only getting stronger. ‘Cept I don’t wanna wait any longer; I just wanna tell the world that you’re mine.” _

 

Zayn doesn’t say the “girl” that is supposed to sing on at the end of his solo. Instead he drags out the “mine”  in one of his classic high notes. 

When they break into the chorus and the stadium lights up with strobes and laser beams. Then it clicks. This is planned. All of this is planned and no one fucking told him. 

Harry turns back to look at Louis, still desperately searching for answers only to see he’s taking his microphone back from Jon who moves to take over on the keys. 

Louis begins walking towards Harry, maintaining eye contact with him and Harry can see the softness in his eyes. He gives Harry a small smile which Harry knows translates to _“everything is going to be okay”_   and Harry can almost feel himself relax. He’s sure that if anybody were to ask him, he wouldn’t even remember his own name.

By the time the first chorus is done, Niall’s solo begins and once again, Zayn comes in for Harry’s solo afterwards, deliberately leaving out the word “girl”  .

When they break into the chorus for the second time around, there’s pictures appearing on the big screens in front of them. 

They’re pictures of just Harry and Louis. 

Pictures of them on X Factor like the time when Louis jumped into Harry’s arms once they got put together in a group or when Harry gave him the rose outside the X Factor studios. Nothing new. 

But then—then there’s photos he knows people haven’t seen before. Like the photos of them cuddled in bed in their old apartment which was the time that they blamed their cuddles on the lack of heating. There’s pictures from the Up All Night tour where Harry is giving Louis a kiss on his temple before a show and then there’s more of them holding hands backstage during Take Me Home tour, including Harry feeding Louis while he gets his hair styled or when they’re asleep on the bus cradled in each other’s arms. 

It was already extremely hot in Brazil, but now Harry feels like his skin is on fire and Louis. Louis is standing right next to him and slowly putting his hand up to Harry’s cheek, thumbing away the tears that seem to falling down his face and when Harry glances up to look at him, Louis is just nodding his head like he’s trying to tell him that _yes, this is supposed to be happening_ and _yes, everything is under control._

Harry notices how the flashing lights seem to be brighter now.

The second chorus ends and Harry knows Louis’  solo is next. It’s one of his favorite parts of the entire second album mainly because of the story behind it. 

 

He remembers when they were recording in Sweden, after hours in the studio, Louis felt as if he couldn’t get his voice to sing his part right. He was demanding that they just hand it over to Zayn to get it over with. He felt the notes were too high and he couldn’t get the right emotion into it so he kept going on about how the _spark_ wasn’t there. 

Harry knew it was an important line, and he knew that Louis he could sing it, but that was only because he only ever sang it to Harry. This was different and it was no wonder Louis couldn’t catch the emotion with too many executives and producers staring him down. 

He saw Louis tense up every time a producer began to rub their temples, telling Louis for the umpteenth time that he’s not putting enough of himself into it. 

By then Harry had kindly asked everyone to _please_ leave the room so it was just Harry and Louis. Once the room was empty, Harry looked at Louis who was practically shaking behind the microphone. 

“Baby,”  Harry kept his voice soft, comforting. He pulled Louis into a hug and he could feel Louis shiver when he put his lips to his ear whispering, “Sing, just for me. No one else is here. Just look at me and sing to me.”

When Harry got behind the room controls and played the music back, Louis nailed it. You can hear it in the song—you can hear that Louis is singing that to _somebody_ and when the producer heard it later, he clapped his hands and yelled, “That’s what I’m talking about!”

 

As beautiful of a moment that was, it’s for that reason that it didn’t make the set list last year. Louis would only sing that part confidently if it was to and for, Harry. 

Now here they are, in front of forty thousand people and Louis has his hand resting on Harry’s shoulder before he runs it down Harrys arm to reach for his hand. He’s telling him with his eyes to trust him and Harry can do that. He can totally do that. Then Louis starts to sing. He’s singing his solo to Harry, the only way he knows how and with everything he has. 

When Niall picks up his part and Zayn goes on to sing his high note, the confetti they’re supposed to use for Happily goes soaring over them right as the chorus comes in again. There’s confetti everywhere but it doesn’t matter because Harry can’t take his eyes off Louis. 

Then Louis pulls Harry’s hand up and gives it a kiss before he points over to the screens besides them. It takes a moment but when Harry’s mind finally registers the words in front of him, he can’t fucking breathe. His mouth goes slack and his heart is about to explode because he loves this boy so much. 

“Harry, will you marry me?”  is flashing on the screen before him, surrounded by photos of them and Harry’s absolutely positive that he’s crying. He brings his hands to his face just to be able to breathe for a second. The crowd behind him is louder than every show they have ever done combined. They’re rooting for them. 

Louis brings a hand up to his face and Harry is already nodding _yes, yes, yes_. He takes his face out his hands, expecting to dive into a hug from Louis but he cuts himself short when he sees that Louis is standing in front of him with a ring in his hands. 

Then Louis is leaning into his ear and Harry can feel him all around him. The hand on his waist, his lips on his ear, Louis’ breath on the skin of his neck. “Harry, babe, can you breathe for me? Are you okay?”

Of course Louis is making sure Harry’s okay right now, when he’s proposing to him and Harry can’t even think straight. Louis wipes the tears from his eyes and puts their foreheads together, holding hands between them. 

Harry can barely manage a nod, but Louis is whispering ‘ _I love you_ ’ s  in his ear, keeping this bit of the proposal between just the two of them. The lights flashing behind him make it look like Louis is glowing, but Harry knows it’s not from the lights.

In the background he can hear the song coming to a close, just the trickle of the piano keys and Zayn’s voice easing out of the song and suddenly it’s over. All that’s left is the screaming fans surrounding them. Harry can feel the spotlight on him and Louis standing at the beginning of the runway. He hears Niall laughing in the distance and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Liam and Zayn give each other a quick high five. He sees the band shushing the crowd, security too telling everyone to be quiet. Then suddenly a room full of forty thousand people is silent.

Louis takes a step back and smiles at him, the kind where his eyes crinkle and he glows with happiness.

“Harry,”  Louis starts into the microphone.

“Yes, yes, yes.” Harry responds immediately, “A thousand times yes,” and makes a grab for Louis who is reaching out to put the gold ring on Harry’s finger. 

“Oi!” Louis smacks Harry’s hand away from grabbing at the ring, “Shush you, I’m doing this proper.”

The crowd lets out a small laugh and Louis takes a deep breath as the stadium silences around them once again, all wanting to hear what Louis has to say. 

He tries to regain his composure but Harry is absolutely beaming in front of him. “Do you have any idea how much I love you? I—” Harry cuts him off with an, “I love you too,”  but Louis shushes him again with a stern look in his eye. 

“Before we left to South America you said you wanted this tour to be extra special. We all knew how different this was going to be with stadium venues, crowds double the size of our last tour, going to even more new cities that we’d never been too before. It’s like you always say when we travel; ‘new place, new you’  and I know we talked about going public when we’re ready but this whole time you were just waiting for me to ready and now I am and - for fuck’s sake, Harry, please stop crying, you’re going to make me cry.”

Harry feels the blush creeping up his neck; he didn’t even know he was still crying he’s just so, so elated.

Louis takes another deep breath, “This ring is special, just as special as you are to me. I never want you to forget that and I want everyone in here,”  Louis looks out at the crowd, taking his eyes off Harry for just a moment, “And all around the world, to know that I fucking _love_ you Harry Styles and I hope you take this ring and yell it out to the rooftops that absolutely nothing is going to change that. I know forever is a long time, but I don’t think I’ll ever enough time in the world to tell you how proud fucking I am of you for being everything you are and for how happy you make me even when it gets tough for the both of us. But that’s what marriage is about. A promise. For better or for worse, ‘till death do us apart. And I promise I will never make you go through what we’ve had to put up with these past few years ever again. Just, Harry, will you marry me?”

Harry can tell Louis is trying not to cry, but he can also see right through his lips curling at the ends into a small smile. For a second Harry forgets the amount of people around them—just for a second. It only just hits him when he has his face buried into the crease between Louis’  neck and shoulder, and leaving trail of kisses and promise that _yes, of course he would marry him_ and the crowd is nothing but white noise. 

In the background Harry can hear Niall yelling, “He said yes, he said yes!”

When Harry pulls away from Louis, he pulls him in for a kiss that’s anything less than perfect—in fact, it’s sloppy and demanding but Harry doesn’t care that he’s still crying because he’s _engaged_. He’s going to have a proper _spouse_. 

When Louis takes his hand to put the ring on his finger, Harry stops him short, asking, “What’s that on the inside?”

When Louis lifts the ring for inspection his face brightens. “For fuck’s sake, I almost forgot. Look!”  Louis tilts the ring to where Harry can clearly see an indentation on the inside. “It’s my thumb print. It’s engraved on the inside so when you ever take it off, it leaves behind my mark. That way, you always have me with you.”

Harry couldn’t believe this moment could get any better but somehow, Louis makes it better. Without hesitating, he gives Louis a small kiss before resting his forehead against Louis’, “You’re such a sap. I love you so much.”

The band is playing some celebratory music in the background and all the boys are taking pictures behind them alongside everyone else who’s capturing this moment. This absolutely brilliant moment. Here he is, standing out and proud with his favorite boy, his fiancé, in his arms and he’s kissing him. In front of everyone.

~

Harry doesn’t think his engagement high will ever cease which is why at the next show, Harry purposely asks the crowd if they know how much he loves Brazil and then he pulls down his pants to where he has “Brasil”  tattooed on his thigh. He tells them he loves them this much. 

All of his tattoos have a meaning and one day, when they ask what the “Brasil” tattoo is for, he’ll say it’s where he got engaged. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you everyone for reading, whether you liked it or not (I hope you did).


End file.
